HS Football: Norwalk's Passero is at the 'fore'-front of Bears offensive line efforts

By JOHN NASHHour Staff Writer

Published
5:45 am EDT, Friday, September 19, 2014

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Hour photo/John Nash - Norwalk High's Billy Passero isn't just the football team's starting center he's also one of the Bears' top varsity golfers.

Hour photo/John Nash - Norwalk High's Billy Passero isn't just the football team's starting center he's also one of the Bears' top varsity golfers.

HS Football: Norwalk's Passero is at the 'fore'-front of Bears offensive line efforts

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NORWALK -- The image of a football player racing across a green to tackle a golfer is rather absurd.

Likewise, it'd be hard to imagine Rory McIlroy rushing off the end of a defensive line to try and make Russell Wilson see birdies with a vicious hit.

After all, on the surface, football and golf seem to go together about as well as Taylor Swift and Eminem doing a love song together.

Meet Billy Passero, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound starting center for the Norwalk High School football team. He's a senior captain who, before the ball is snapped, is helping the rest of his linemates prepare for protection of their their quarterback, or conniving ways to open holes for the team's running backs.

Come the spring and summer months, however, Passero finds himself in a much more tranquil place than the trenches of a football field.

Usually, he'll be making daily rounds at either the Oak Hills Golf Club or Shorehaven, playing the game he has a true passion for and has played for pretty much is his whole life.

Passero is an offensive lineman who also plays for the Bears varsity golf team.

"It's two completely different mindsets," said Norwalk interim head coach Pat Moffett, himself a lover of the links. "The cool mindset you have in golf, you can see it when he's calling out our line protection. That cool calm mentality when you're in a fast-paced game comes from playing golf."

So, too, does the ability to forget.

"When you hit a bad shot in golf, you have to think maybe the next one will get you back in it," said Passero. "When you have a bad play in football, it's the same thing."

Passero, a 13 handicap, doesn't make too many mistakes on the golf course.

That sport entered his life far before football did since his entire family plays.

"I don't even know when I started," he said. "I just kind of picked it up."

His family has a membership at Shorehaven and he even gets to travel to Scotland once a year to visit his brother, who is attending St. Andrew's, where they always manage to get in a round or two of golf.

By fifth grade, though, Passero was playing football and getting in touch with his meaner hit-somebody-instead-of-a-golf-ball side.

"It is an aggressive game," Passero said of his time spent on the gridiron. "In golf, you have to keep your composure and I try to bring that over to football, too."

Moffett has seen it first hand.

There are times when Passero's Bears teammates might get a little over-hyped about a hit, a block or a play, and usually it's Passero acting as the calming influence to get the team refocused.

Next play. Next shot.

That's what matters once the previous one is done.

"He's always got his head on straight whether it's on the golf course or the football field," said Moffett.

He became Norwalk's starting center midway through last season and hasn't surrendered the spot since.

In fact, he became such a leader for the Bears in the offseason, the coaches named him a captain.

"He was here all summer in the weight room, a great leader in there, so it was a non-brainer for us coaches," said Moffett.

While the extra muscle might add a few yards to his shot, the heady side of Passero knows he has to hit it straight first and foremost.

Passero -- who admits to playing Tiger Woods Golf more than Madden on his X-Box -- can easily pinpoint highlights on the golf course.

There was a long putt for eagle on a par 5 at Shorehaven, or that time he hit the flag from 160 yards out, nearly claiming another eagle.

His top football memory?

"That's going to come later this season," he said.

For now, golf can wait.

There's a football season to focus on and when Passesro pulls on the shoulder pads and straps on the helmet he knows there's a difference.

"Something has to turn on when you play football," he said. "Something has to be different. You have to forget about your nice side."

Once the season is over, Passero will spend his winters going to Norawlk High basketball games -- "Watch Roy Kane dunk over people," he said -- and wait for the snow to melt.

Then, he'll hit the links for the last time a Norwalk High player, too.

But Billy Passero, football center and life-long golfer, is proof the two sports can exist competitively in one person.